Food & Drink

BEST GOURMET GROCERY Minneapolis 1999 -

Readers' Choice: Byerly's

Tucked just a couple of escalators beneath downtown Minneapolis's skyways, this gourmet-food nook may have started as an afterthought to the department-store empire upstairs, but it's got some great prepared foods and, in our opinion, the best all-around local selection of sauces, oils, spice mixes, specialty jams, and the like. Downtown workers can pick up packaged lunches, deli salads, and even fresh produce. Shoppers looking to tote their finds home will enjoy the case housing dozens of artisanal cheeses and olives imported from different parts of the Mediterranean. And no description of Dayton's Marketplace would be complete without a mention of the chocolate counter, which boasts one of the most amazing displays of truffles and other dark, rich confections this side of (and, of course, including) Godiva.